Sri Lanka War Hospital ‘Hit Again’

At least 50 people have been killed in an attack on a hospital in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone, a health official has said.

The shelling of the facility in Mullivaikal on Wednesday came less than 24 hours after at least 49 people died in an attack on the same hospital, the last remaining inside the conflict zone.

“At least 50 people have been killed and more than 60 injured in today’s shelling,” T Varatharajah, a doctor at the hospital, said. He did not say who carried out the attack.

A local worker for the International Committe of the Red Cross (ICRC) was also killed on Wednesday in a shelling incident, an ICRC spokeswoman told Al Jazeera.

“A staff member was killed this afternoon in a shelling incident in the conflict area. His mother was also killed in the same incident … the [staff member] was working for the ICRC as a water technician,” Sarasi Wijaratne said.

The man was the third Red Cross worker killed in fighting in Sri Lanka in recent weeks.

Government denial

The Sri Lankan government has denied carrying out an attack on the makeshift hospital on Tuesday, in the area where government forces are battling fighters from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). >>>